Daydreaming about a "Savo Summer"

I bought an exercise machine in January, and I've been pretty dedicated to my exercise routine since then — a half-hour a day, five days a week. It's getting to the place where it's a habit, for both me and the kids (Sofia eggs me on most days: "Mommy, I think you can go faster."). I was sick of feeling trapped by the weather, like the cold and wind were conspiring to keep me inside and lethargic. So, on the up side, I'm now getting my exercise. The downside: I spend a lot of time staring at the same wall.

Luckily, this wall does have this nice print of a painting by local artist Lora Schaunaman on it. It's titled "Savo Summer," and it shows Savo Hall and Savo Lutheran Church, both less than a mile from our farm, if you walked across the section. In fact, the viewpoint of the two buildings is nearly exactly what it would be from our farm (especially from the upper story of the new house), if a shelterbelt wasn't blocking the view. (Lora and my mom are good friends, both artists as they are; I always wondered if Lora did that on purpose.) The hall, the church and the township are named after the region of Savo in Finland, where some of the settlers to this area came from.

Lora's taken a few artistic liberties in her painting. (I purposefully didn't take a great picture of the painting, as I don't want a perfect copy of it to float around the Internet without credit to Lora, but you can get a better idea if you click on it.) There are trees around the two buildings, but not quite as many as she painted; it doesn't look as much like an oasis on the prairie as she depicted. The field in the foreground is also more likely to be planted to corn or soybeans than prairie grass. But the feeling of a Savo summer she's created is spot on. The bird — a hawk, likely — is floating on a touch of a breeze, the morning sun is shining, the world is big and wonderful, and the day is full of possibilities.

Years ago, life around here did center on the hall and church. The church had its weekly importance, as well as its place as the scene for weddings and funerals. The hall was the place to gather for school programs, traveling plays, band performances, dances and more. It shined brightest at midsummer, when it had a program that lasted all day and into the night. Speakers (quite often rabble-rousing, union-minded, populist types — sometimes called "Communists" outright) would come from all over to step on their soapbox in front of the crowd. Athletic events took up the afternoon; Dad said he often played baseball in those days. And a dance would follow, as these people who lived in a place that's dark and cold for much of the year celebrated the time of light and warmth.

The Savo Hall Association (of which you, too, could be come a lifetime member for just $1) sold prints of it at Savo Hall's 100th anniversary celebration in 1998. (In fact, I think there are still some for sale, at the Community Store and the Historical Society's gift shop.) The celebration was much like the midsummer celebrations of years ago, though without athletic events or the speakers (Communist or otherwise).

The group also auctioned off the original painting then. My uncle Arnold was one of the last two bidding for it; my sister and I were really hoping he'd get it. At one point he hesitated, and I remember going up and leaning over and telling him that we'd all pitch in to help him get it. He didn't respond, and I got the feeling I shouldn't have said anything, as it wasn't the place of a young woman to tell an old man what to do.

In the end, the bidding went quite high and Arnold let it go to the other man, who was the decendent of someone who'd grown up here but who now lived far off in California or some such place where it's summer yearround. I wished Arnold had gotten it, but he was happy enough with a signed print. He had it framed nicely and put up on the most prominent wall in his living room, where he spent much of his time in those last years.

I got a cheaper unsigned print, which has traveled with me to every home since — including back home to this one, and on to the new one across the yard, where the view of the hall and the church is just a little bit better.